| Beat & Motion | |
 Firsttankōbon volume cover | |
| Genre | |
|---|---|
| Manga | |
| Written by | Naoki Fujita |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Jump Comics+ |
| Magazine | Shōnen Jump+ |
| Original run | February 25, 2023 –January 25, 2025 |
| Volumes | 6 |
| Original net animation | |
| Licensed by | Netflix |
Beat & Motion (stylized inall caps) is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated by Naoki Fujita. It was serialized onShueisha'sShōnen Jump+ app and website from February 2023 to January 2025, with its individual chapters collected into six volumes. Anoriginal netanime (ONA) adaptation is in production.
As a child Tatsuhiko dreamed of being an animator but gave up that dream after relentless teasing from his classmates. His friends later started a band and music became his new passion. The band eventually breaks up pushing Tatsuhiko to become cynical and double down on his view of dreams being useless. However, while demeaning a friend's dreams, an unknown drunk woman calls him out on this cynical outlook, angrily yelling at him in the streets. This chance encounter revives Tatsuhiko's childhood passion for animation, and he begins again by uploading a short two minute animation online. He is then contacted by Nico, an independent artist he has long been a huge fan of, who wishes to work with him to create an animated music video for her latest song. To his horror, when finally meeting the artist, he learns that she is the same drunk woman who had berated him about dreams before. She appears to not remember their previous encounter and the two agree to work together. They begin to growing closer, encouraging each other throughout the process.
Nico is eventually contacted by a major record label to have her sign on with them. This unfortunately puts her project with Tatsuhiko on hold since the label will hold the rights to her song. Tatsu instead works on creating a different animation for a local contest and also befriends a couple other aspiring animators at his college.
Nico is shocked when the record label has to put her debut on hold due to an influx of artists from another label that had to close down. Nico asks if in the meantime she could write and compose songs. She submits a song to a competition which may lead to a collaboration with a popular pop artist Miyu. Nico's song is chosen but she discovers that Miyu is her childhood best friend, Miu, who shared Nico's passion for music. The two had a falling out and drifted apart after Nico gave up on music. At first Miyu pretends she does not know Nico, but later pulls Nico into another room demanding an answer for why Nico initially gave up on music.
In June 2021,Shōnen Jump+ launched an eight-part web series titledMillion Tag [ja]. On the show, manga artists and their editors competed in a contest, with the grand prize winner getting¥5,000,000 in cash, a chance to serialize their manga onShōnen Jump+ with at least onetankōbon volume being published, and an anime adaptation fromNetflix.[2][3]Beat & Motion won the contest.[4]
Written and illustrated by Naoki Fujita, the series was serialized on theShōnen Jump+ app and website from February 25, 2023,[5][6] to January 25, 2025.[7]Shueisha published the individual chapters in sixtankōbon volumes.[8][4]
Viz Media and Shueisha'sManga Plus service are publishing the series simultaneously with its Japanese release.[9]
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | July 4, 2023[10] | 978-4-08-883297-5 | December 23, 2025[11] | 978-1-9747-4357-5 | |
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| 2 | November 2, 2023[12] | 978-4-08-883703-1 | December 23, 2025[13] | 978-1-9747-5299-7 | |
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| 3 | February 2, 2024[14] | 978-4-08-883840-3 | December 23, 2025[15] | 978-1-9747-5300-0 | |
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| 4 | June 4, 2024[16] | 978-4-08-884053-6 | — | — | |
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| 5 | October 4, 2024[17] | 978-4-08-884223-3 | — | — | |
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| 6 | March 4, 2025[8] | 978-4-08-884335-3 | — | — | |
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Anoriginal netanime (ONA) adaptation is in production, withNetflix set to distribute the series globally.[4]
Robbie Pleasant fromMultiversity Comics felt the story was "relatable" and "hard-hitting". He also praised the artwork and its use of small details.[18]
